The Most Precious Snitch
by erulisse-yaviel
Summary: CDHP slash. A happy CedricHarry Story for a change. Shameless flirtings, etc. It's NC17 'cause there WILL be a, well, NC17 scene in the later chapters. Set on Harry's third year, right after the famous quidditchmatch. Rather AU.
1. Chapter 1

The Most Precious Snitch

Chapter 1

The snitch was within both of the seekers' grasp when a thunder strokes the Hufflepuff seeker's broom. He fell 180 degrees down, surprisingly still managing to remain on his broomstick. Just a few meters before hitting the ground, Cedric Diggory forced himself to urge his broom up and steadies himself. The crowd had gone from an unmistakable 'oh no!' to become deadly silent. Before what happened was registered, Cedric saw a figure –whom he figured was Harry Potter- falling alarmingly fast. The snitch had begun fleeting near Cedric again and common knowledge told him he could catch it within a matter of seconds. But the question is: which 'snitch' does he want to catch?

Cedric heard the Griffyndors gasped as Harry fell faster and faster. His mind was made up. No silly snitch was worth losing a schoolmate. He sped towards the falling boy praying he'll be in time to catch him. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the Headmaster stood up and muttered something. He didn't care though. Surprisingly Harry's fall slowed down. But the boy was still in danger. Cedric urged his broom to go faster. Unfortunately, without a moment to brace himself for the extra weight, his broom, an unconscious Harry and of course, himself, fell from around 30 meters above the sky.

The Hufflepuff landed on his back (which, later, he realized that his broom had flown away before the impact) with the boy-who-lived in his arms.

It was a truly awkward moment for both teams. Neither side caught the snitch. Neither side would ever admit what a mellow sight it was.

_-Two days later-_

Harry was preparing to be released from the hospital wing when Oliver Wood walked in.

"Madam Hooch had decided we're having a rematch…" he informed Harry with a truly confused look plastered on his face.

Harry hadn't the heart to tell Wood that it was expected all along since neither seeker caught the snitch, "That's great! Although, Diggory would've caught the snitch…"

"I thought so too. Besides he caught you for us so I…" Wood replied, avoiding Harry's eyes, "Say he didn't catch you and got the snitch. Knowing Hufflepuffs they would want a rematch anyway cause you'd have fallen… well… you know where I'm going with this, we could never win the House Cup without you anyway. I mean really, you fell from over 100 meters high Harry… So I…"

"Oliver… I get it…" Harry smiled.

"Yeah, uhm, that's why I hope the rest of the team don't, well, I hope they won't get upset when I tell them, I, uh, forfeited the rematch…" the Captain replied uncertainly. He had a glazed look in his eyes and Harry could tell he still couldn't believe he had just let Hufflepuff won himself.

"Oh…" was all Harry can say.

The news didn't hit the team too well but all of them understood. It was like having to choose between Harry and the match. If a Hufflepuff could choose him over the snitch so easily, they couldn't see any reason why THEY couldn't. It still didn't stop the Gryffindors from feeling like a wreck though.

Harry walked into the Great Hall, planning on catching Diggory before lunch time was over. The Hufflepuff was admitted into the hospital wing but was released before Harry was even conscious. The Weasley twins told him he broke his arm and sported a few scratches here and there. Madam Pomfrey made his broken arm her first priority when she worked on him. Later, he walked out of the hospital wing with a perfectly functioning arm and the forgotten scratches. Of course, he was given a potion to apply on the scratches, but Madam Pomfrey was so hysterical over Harry that she completely forgot to even have a proper look at the scratches.

Harry noted that Diggory wasn't even at the Hufflepuff table. Just as he was about to turn around, a couple of Hufflepuffs approached him to ask how he was. Harry chuckled at the thought that if it was the Slytherins, they wouldn't have cared if he died. They might be celebrating his death in fact.

Later Harry found out that he was excused from lessons for the rest of the day. After chatting with Ron and Hermione, Harry went off to find Diggory again around dinner time. This time, he stalked around the Hufflepuffs area. He wasn't exactly sure where it was so he ended up wandering here and there.

It was after a half-an-hour search that Harry decided to give up. He was about to walk off to Gryffindor's tower when a voice stopped him.

"No, Oliver, I don't want to win just because your team is not competing…" a voice said.

"Technically Cedric, we're STILL competing. We're just forfeiting one match. If your team loses against Ravenclaw then we're back in the running." Harry heard Wood answer.

"Alright, when the two of you are done, I'll be in the Great Hall with Penelope," a new voice, whom Harry suspected to be Percy Weasley's, cut in, "Honestly, who on earth fight over this kind of thing?"

"For once, we agree with Perce, Cedric, you won. Oliver, stop implying he'll lose against Ravenclaw…" a fourth voice joins in. Harry recognized the voice straight away; Fred Weasley's.

His twin spoke next, "Although we don't deny we like to think of it that way…"

Harry was curious. He didn't know The Weasleys, Oliver and Diggory were on a first name basis. By the tone they were using, it was almost as if they had been best mates since they were babies! Harry identified the source of the commotion. It was an empty classroom which, to Harry's knowledge, hasn't been used for years. He leaned in at the door and pressed his ear against the wooden barrier. It wasn't his fault he was curious, must haven been something inherited from James Potter himself.

Suddenly, as soon as his ear touched the wood, a deafening ringing sound filled the room and the nearby corridor. Harry pulled back immediately and covered his ears.

"Snooper alert!" screamed a voice inside. Harry couldn't decide whose it was as he was too busy trying to block out the sound. He turned around and tried to run when he heard footsteps from the other side of the door approaching. Somehow though, he couldn't move. He looked down and saw the most amazing thing; the door handle had turned into a pair of golden hands and was currently holding Harry by the waist. Must be a Weasley charm, Harry thought miserably.

The door was yanked open and Harry was, unfortunately, still stuck to the door, which caused him to be yanked back along with the offending piece of wood.

Five pair of eyes turned towards Harry. Harry felt like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Uh… Hi?" said Harry in a squeaky and timid sort of voice.

Harry learned that the Woods, Weasleys and Diggorys have been associated with each other for quite a long time. Starting from, as Fred puts it, 'our great-grandparents' great-grandparents' grandparents'. They had welcomed Harry into their conversation but Harry couldn't stop feeling awkward being in the room itself.

It was no secret that Diggory and Oliver were two of Hogwarts' princes-charming. Percy was the Head Boy and the Twins were famous for their pranks. Harry could probably handle them individually, but together, Harry felt so very small.

How he wished Ron was with him.

After a couple of more small talks, Diggory asked Harry if he were okay already. The question reminded Harry why he was even there in the first place.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine… I was, er, actually looking for you…" Harry replied, and then noticing how the rest of the room had arched their eyebrows, Harry quickly finishes, "I wanted to thank you. For, erm, well, saving me…"

"Of course, no problem… It was the right thing to do… Besides, Oliver here had GRACIOUSLY let Hufflepuff win, didn't you, Oliver?" Cedric replied, teasingly.

Oliver looked bewildered and mumbled a few incoherent words before nodding his head. The rest of the room laughed and it was then that Harry noticed a remarkably sexy scratch on Cedric's left cheek.

'Wait the minute… how on earth can a scratch be SEXY? And since when did Diggory become Cedric…?' Harry thought to himself.

The rest had noticed how suddenly thoughtful-looking Harry had became.

"Ah, debating with yourself again are you, Harry?" teased Fred.

Harry's cheek turned a shade pinker, "No, I, well, yes. I just noticed you still have scratches on you Ced-Iggory…"

"Ah, 'Ced-Iggory'. Hey Cedric, that's a nice new nickname we could call you…" said George, "but you're right Harry that one on his cheek is the only one left… It's pretty stubborn…"

"Yeah, it wouldn't budge… We've tried all sorts of things, we've tried bandaging it, but it only made it more obvious…" continued Fred.

"We tried everything really. We even tried kissing… Well, it's still there…" finished George.

Harry's eyes went wide with innocent shock, "Kissing?"

The five looked at Harry oddly for a while before bursting up, "His scratch of course! You know, kiss it better? What were you thinking?"

Harry blushed outright. "Maybe because it hasn't been kissed by the right person eh, Cedric?" teased Oliver.

Cedric laughed. "Yeah, maybe YOU should kiss it, Harry," joked the twins.

Harry discretely went red again. It was no secret how the older boys and girls act in Hogwarts. Same-gender relationship wasn't uncommon. Friends make out with each other when the moment calls for it, couples invite their friends into their dorms at night, and all those jazz. But Harry, being only 13 years-old after all, couldn't help but feel shy at the topic.

Cedric nodded his head, pretending to agree. After nodding a couple of times, he broke into a somewhat good-nurtured smirk and winks at Harry. Before Harry could respond though, Percy stopped laughing without a warning. He stood up and said, "Time to go, dinner will be over in 15 minutes."

Without waiting for a reply, Percy rushed out, pausing at the door for his friends expectantly. The twins stood up and started walking for the door. Oliver quickly got up too and gathered his books while Cedric, reached for his pieces of parchments which were scattered about the floor around his chair.

Harry's brain was overdrove, literally. What just happened may seem innocent, but Harry had seen the look on the five before Percy decided to ruin the moment. Their eyes were twinkling. Cedric wasn't joking. He was actually FLIRTING. Harry almost fainted.

"Harry! There you are! I've been looking ALL OVER for you!" Hermione's voice cut through Harry's trains of thoughts. He looked at Hermione who was tapping her foot impatiently outside the classroom. Ron was nowhere in sight.

Harry made to move but a thought –a highly disturbing one, later he judged- crept into his mind. Cedric was still seated, trying to arrange his parchments. The Twins were teasing Percy about something. Oliver was busy trying to find his Potions book. No one was looking, or so he thought anyway.

Harry stood up, walked to Cedric, bent over a little and kissed Cedric's left cheek where the scratch was. Before Cedric could respond, Harry turned and rushed out, dragging a very wide-eyed Hermione with him.

How glad he was Ron wasn't there.

TBC

Yaviel's Notes: How do you like it? This is going to be a 5 chaptered or more kind of story… So I hope I didn't do too badly for the 1st chapter. I'm sure by now you've realized who the 'most precious snitch' is… Lol… Well, 'till the next chapter… Review please!


	2. Chapter 2

The Most Precious Snitch

Chapter 2

Harry didn't bother to go to the Great Hall for dinner. He couldn't believe what he just did. He just kissed Cedric Diggory. Well, his wound anyway. He ran as fast as he could towards the Gryffindor tower, still dragging Hermione with him. He was so embarrassed… So flushed… So… so… so…

"Erm, Harry? When you're finish debating with yourself… let me know…" Hermione cut in between jagged breaths.

At this, Harry stopped dead on his track, causing Hermione to bump into him. This, clumsily resulted in both of them falling.

"Just when I thought the two of you can't get any more stupid than usual…" drawled a silky voice.

Harry, in his 'state' couldn't put together who it was but thankfully, Hermione had already spat out 'Malfoy'.

"Potter, you look like you've just been done…" continued Malfoy, when Harry blushed even more furiously –if that was possible- and made no comment, Malfoy arched an eyebrow, "what, hit the head in the nail didn't I?"

"Nail in the head. Hit the nail in the head, Malfoy… Honestly, I bet you don't even know what a nail is…" came a new voice, which turned out to be Ron's, who just came down from the Gryffindor tower.

"Of course I don't, I wouldn't waste my time familiarizing myself with MUGGLES and their TOOLS, as they thought they so cleverly puts it… Unlike you of course. Tell me Weasley, have your father been promoted yet?" sneered Malfoy, backed up by Crabbe and Goyle.

Ron suddenly grew purple and muttered a 'no'.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot, he hasn't been promoted for quite a while now has he? Must be quite a strain there with so many children to take care of-" replied Malfoy in a mock-pity kind of tone.

Ron almost jumped at him but was restrained by Hermione and the now slightly focused Harry.

"Malfoy, if I see a hand on those three, you're going straight to detention," cuts a new voice. Namely Cedric Diggory.

Harry was so surprised that Cedric was there; it didn't help that all the earlier events were replaying itself in his mind like a broken VCD player. He was so shocked and embarrassed that he suddenly let go of Ron. Ron's body took an involuntary jerk forward, leaving Hermione with no choice but to release her grip. Malfoy and his crew laughed mockingly as Ron fell down face-first.

Harry's eyes widen and quickly helped Hermione pulls Ron up. Blood dripped down from his nose.

"I don't NEED to lay a hand on them. See? The Weasel managed to injure himself without my help…" laughed Malfoy as he walked away.

"Harry!" Ron complained. Harry looked really apologetic. He couldn't bring his eyes up to see Cedric, Oliver and the twins. He murmured a sorry to Ron who couldn't stop fidgeting as Hermione tried to fix his bleeding nose.

"Don't be so hard on him Ron. You wouldn't be able to think straight too if you've just kissed Hufflepuff's golden-boy…" laughed the twins.

Upon hearing this… Ronald Weasley fainted.

"… Ron?"

"Honestly Ron, you freak out too much! You know you can't trust the twins. Harry didn't KISS Cedric," Hermione explained to the conscious Ron who looked very relieved after hearing it, "He just, you know, give him a little peck in the cheek-" Ron grew purple again, "as gratitude!" finished Hermione quickly.

Harry, who figured he had better stay away from Ron for the time being, went off with the twins and Cedric to sneak some food from the kitchen. He was really reluctant at first, not daring to meet Cedric's eyes –so much for Gryffindor's bravery- but he gave in as soon as Ron started to wake up.

He didn't really understand why Ron's reaction was so violent.

"If you're wondering why Ron is reacting so violently… It's because he thought Cedric and I were dating…" said Fred, breaking the ice.

Harry's heart skipped a beat. He felt sick.

"Of course he's not though… Ron's an idiot… The whole school thought Cedric's dating Cho… Why on earth would he think he's dating Fred, right?" grinned George.

Harry felt nauseous.

Cedric chuckled and shooed the twins off who happily turned into the kitchen while Harry kept walking with lots of thoughts swimming in his head.

"Harry? We've missed the kitchen," stated Cedric matter-of-factly.

"Oh, yeah…" but Harry didn't exactly care. All he could think about was 'Cedric is dating Cho?', "You're dating Cho?"

Cedric arched an eyebrow and smirked, "You are so transparent Harry. And no, I am NOT dating Cho… She's nice and all but she's not exactly my type…"

Harry felt like a thousand elephants had just been lifted from his chest. He wanted to ask him what his type is but he didn't want to seem 'transparent' so he just nodded, feigning total understanding. Cedric saw this and chuckled to himself. 'He's SO transparent' he laughed. He reached Harry's hand with his own, earning a surprised 'oh!' and a scarlet Harry. He tugged at Harry's hand and led him back towards the kitchen.

Cedric, who was leading the way, smirked in satisfaction and slipped Harry's and his hands into his robe pocket. Harry had finally stopped turning redder and redder, instead, he felt as if his heart was about to burst any minute then.

"Hey guys, we don't want to disturb you or anything, but the elves had a new 'muh-keens' or something. You insert a Knut into the 'coin-receiver' and it'll tell you whether your eating habits are healthy or not! It's hilarious!" greeted Fred.

"Yeah, never seen anything like it before. We suspect it's a muggle-thing. Bet dad would love to have a look at it…" continued George.

Cedric laughed and took a closer look at the right object. Sure enough, Harry saw a coin receiver and a little speaker at the bottom. At the top, an 'Eating-Habits Judge MACHINE' was engraved.

"… Er, that's a muh-sheen… not muh-keens…" explained Harry, "it's a common muggle electronic and they have lots of it in London… Weighing machines, telephone booths, even some fortune-telling machines!"

The three raised an eyebrow in sheer amazement, both at Harry's knowledge and the fact that 'weighing machines' and 'telephone booths' actually existed. However, they broke out laughing as they heard the 'fortune-telling machine'.

"Fortune-telling machine? That's GOT to be a fraud. They couldn't have possibly fit a Seer into the machine could they?" Cedric laughed.

"No, you're right, it's a total fraud. Muggles do it to make themselves feel better, I think. The machine usually chunk out a bunch of nonsensical predictions. Like fortune-cookies…" answered Harry.

"Well, fraud or not, it's got to be better than Trelawney's prediction," the twins laughed. Harry couldn't help but to smile.

Then, the twins suddenly stop laughing, "Harry, you do realize fortune cookies are real though?"

"Well, that was interesting…" Cedric commented.

They were walking away from the hysterical twins who couldn't get over teasing the elves and their new machines. Fred had apparently tricked an elf into 'demonstrating' the machine. Harry didn't know where they were headed and one of his hands was still tucked into Cedric's robe. So he just nodded in agreement and continued letting himself be led away by Cedric.

"But that 'machine' was rather interesting. Do muggles actually waste their money like that? I mean 'telefones', really, they could've just used the fireplace…" Cedric continued, trying to get Harry to actually say something.

Harry laughed, "The muggles don't know how to 'operate' fireplaces Ce…" he paused as he felt Cedric arched an eyebrow and smirk, "dric…"

Cedric smiled and led Harry into an empty classroom, "I've got another 'machine' to show you Harry."

Harry was confused and he couldn't think very clearly at that point. All he could think about was the fact that he was led into an EMPTY classroom by CEDRIC DIGGORY. He was ready to faint; his heart was beating at a 100 beats per second –or so he thought- and he bet his face was extremely red. He didn't know why he was feeling so flustered. He'd been in empty classrooms with loads of other people before. Ron, Hermione… Snape… Even Oliver! Well, in Oliver's case it was usually empty hospital wings and most of the time Oliver was lying on the bed himself.

But this was so different! It's an empty classroom! With nobody else but him! And CEDRIC DIGGORY!

"Harry, stop debating with yourself," Cedric said, his eyes amused.

Harry mentally kicked himself, 'Why am I SO transparent?' he thought.

"Anyway, Mr. Harry Potter, feast your eyes on the 'Cedric Diggory machine'…" Cedric smiled, gesturing to himself. Harry's brows knotted in confusion.

"Wasn't there something you wanted to ask me?" Cedric continued.

Harry looked even more confused for a while before turning red. He remembered; he had previously almost asked Cedric what his type was before he stopped himself.

"I wanted to know-" Harry started.

"Wait, THIS machine operates like any other kind of machine, you need to 'pay' me first, or as I like to call it, 'make a 'deposit' before I can answer your question," Cedric cuts in, finally turning to face him and letting Harry's hand out of his pocket. His fingers grasp around Harry's and he felt Harry blushed.

"Oh," Harry said, his free hand reaching into his pocket, trying to get a Knut out.

Cedric chuckled and used his other Harry-free hand to stop the fumbling hand, "No, no that KIND of deposit…"

Harry looked confused once again. He tilted his head, thinking hard. Cedric let the younger boy get lost in his thought before letting one of Harry's hand go and using his own hand to cup Harry's cheek.

"Kiss me," Cedric finally explains, his eyes focusing on the younger boy's.

Harry's eyes widen and he blushed cutely. Before he knew what was happening, he felt Cedric's hand pulling him forward. His eyes widen in shock and before he could pull away –not that he REALLY want to- he felt Cedric's lips on his own.

Harry Potter almost died of heart attack.

It took Harry a moment to realize that Cedric, who was seated on a table, had circled his hands around Harry's waist. Without realizing it, one of Harry's hands had reached Cedric's neck and his other hand was placed on Cedric's chest. Then it hit him, he, Harry Potter, was actually MAKING OUT –well sort of anyway- with CEDRIC DIGGORY!

Yes, Harry Potter was POSITIVE he'd die of heart attack.

Thing is, he had never kissed anyone before. Cedric seemed to have taken care of the problem though. His tongue led Harry's through-out the make-out session. Harry didn't know if he was doing it right or wrong. Heck, he doesn't even know what he was doing. But after Cedric pulled him even closer, he stopped caring.

After a while in heaven, they had to pull apart for air.

"You," Cedric whispered.

Harry let out a dazed 'huh?'

"You're my type…" Cedric answered.

Harry went back up to heaven.

TBC

Yaviel's Notes: Wow, all the shameless flirting (although it was mostly on Cedric's part). I can't help making Harry super transparent here. 'Cause he just is! WAIII! I'm sure lots of you out there would LOVE to have a go at the 'Cedric Diggory machine'. Lol, how was this chapter? Review please!


	3. Chapter 3

The Most Precious Snitch

Chapter 3

Harry Potter was officially out of the planet. Hermione and Ron, who was a lot calmer then, saw him fumbling into the common room. He just sat there, facing the fireplace and staring at nothing in particular. He had a weird look on his face; like he was actually radiating happiness. Every once in a while, he'll break into a silly little grin and before the grin could transform into an outright smile he'll stop himself abruptly. Hermione smiled and approach Harry, followed by a confused Ron.

"Hey Harry, how are you feeling?" she started.

"Hmm, I'll tell you when I can tell myself…" came the dazed reply, completed with a content sigh.

"Mate, you look way off it," Ron commented and he was immediately hit on the head by Hermione.

Harry didn't hear the comment though. He was so happy inside. He made out with Cedric Diggory! After that, Cedric had personally escorted Harry back to the Gryffindor Tower. He felt so weird inside. He wasn't nervous anymore, after all, Cedric had long went back to the Hufflepuff's. Yet, he still felt like his heart was about to burst. In a good way though, if there was such thing.

He suddenly felt the need to tell Ron and Hermione about every single excruciating detail of the incident. (Ah, young love)

Harry opened his mouth to speak, "Hermione, Ron… What would you say if I tell you, er, Cedric and I were making out in an empty classroom just half-an-hour ago…?"

Hermione beamed and hugged Harry, actually she SQUEEZED Harry, Ron, after recovering from initial shock, had to pull Hermione away before Harry suffocated to death.

"You do realize what this means, don't you Harry?" Hermione asked, "You like Cedric Diggory!"

"Hermione, I think Harry has worked that part out himself, haven't you, mate?" cut Ron.

Harry look blankly at both of them, before a confused look crept up his face.

"You mean to tell me, you made out of Diggory WITHOUT REALIZING that you ACTUALLY LIKE him?" Ron half-screamed, looking exasperated.

"Uh well, I did used to think I have a crush on him, but maybe you're right, maybe I DO like him… I wouldn't know really, I've never liked anyone before. How does it feel to like someone?" commented Harry thoughtfully.

Ron and Hermione slapped their foreheads.

"What?" Harry asked, genuinely oblivious.

The next day, which happens to be a Saturday, started off rather unusually. Harry, who usually wakes up at 10 in the morning on a weekend, ended up waking up at 7. Neither Ron nor the rest of his roommate were awake yet, so he decided to start off the day early by himself.

After getting through the morning routine, he practically SKIPPED out of the dormitories. Events of the previous day replaying in his mind. Half way out the painting of the Fat Lady though, it occurred to him he didn't want to enter the Great Hall by himself (lest SOMEONE is already there), so he waited 'till 8, when he knows Hermione ALWAYS wakes up during the weekend. Right on time, Hermione came down with a few rolls of parchments and books stacked on her hand.

"Harry?" she sounded shocked, "You're awake! Wow!"

Harry laughed, "Yeah, thanks for the 'compliment'… Do you need help with that?"

She nodded and handed Harry a few rolls of parchments.

The two made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Sure enough when they walked in Cedric and the rest of his crew were there. Harry blushed instantly when their eyes met and he quickly pretended to be talking to Hermione.

"Erm, what are you going to do with all this books anyway, Hermione?" he started shakily, as he felt hundreds (okay maybe not REALLY hundreds) of curious eyes falling on him.

Hermione, who was struggling with the books, walked towards the Gryffindor table, explaining enthusiastically, "I'm glad you asked Harry, this is actually research materials for Buckbeak… you know, his trials and all… This is only half of it though; the other half is with Ron, although I doubt he ACTUALLY reads a page…"

Harry nodded, although none of her words were registered into his mind. He couldn't help noticing something strange with the looks he was getting. They're not mean looks or anything. They were 'knowing' looks. Harry felt utterly exposed for some unknown reasons.

With a thump of Hermione's books, they settled into their table.

"Hermione, do you notice anything strange?" Harry asked.

"Hmm? Like what?" Hermione replied distractedly, trying to eat her eggs while reading and occasionally scribbling on the various pieces of parchments.

At the same time, the twins, Percy and Oliver who was perched on the Hufflepuffs' table, talking to Cedric, turned to look at Harry and smirked… Harry felt VERY VERY nervous all over again.

"Is it true? Did you really kissed Cedric?" an excited unfamiliar voice suddenly cuts through his conversation with Hermione.

Harry turned around and saw two Ravenclaw girls and a Hufflepuff boy, "Do I KNOW you?"

The boy spoke up, "No, but we sure know you, Harry Potter, so you really did made out with Cedric Diggory huh?"

"Oh my gosh, is that a love bite on your neck?" a new voice cuts in.

Harry instinctively placed his hand on his neck, although he didn't actually know whether there really was a hickey there. Before long, Harry was surrounded by students Harry had never talked to –even SEEN- before. They were all asking questioning Harry and occasionally passing him weird remarks.

'Did you really kiss Cedric?', 'you made out with him?', 'Did you go all the way?', 'Who started the kiss?', 'Well, it's about time the two of you get together actually…' 'Did you really do it in an empty classroom?', 'how did it all start?' 'WHEN did it all start?' 'I mean really, ever since that day at the Quidditch match, everyone already knew it was bound to happen anyway…' And so goes on.

Harry's mind swirled, 'how did EVERYBODY know?" he thought, feeling giddy. Maybe it was the lack of oxygen since everyone was circling him, or maybe because he was so embarrassed, or maybe, just maybe, because he felt a tinge bit happy inside. Harry though, decided it was the lack of oxygen because he felt really faint after a while.

Hermione, who finally noticed that her friend was 'swallowed up' by a swirl of students, finally 'humphed' and closes her books loudly, attracting attention from the assaulting students.

"Excuse me! DO YOU MIND?" she glared.

A majority of the students felt small under Hermione's glare and immediately disperse.

"Harry? Are you-" Hermione started but was immediately hit by a wave of shock as she saw Harry, who was wobbling in his seat, fell into the floor, looking flushed and fevered, eyes partially closed.

Percy came shooing away all those students who remained behind while Oliver, the twins and Cedric ran to the fallen Harry's side. Hermione supported Harry in a seating position. Oliver, who had seemingly handled a faint Harry so many times during Quidditch practices, conjured up a fan -which started moving itself to fan Harry- expertly.

"He needs fresh air," Cedric decided, his voice in a commanding tone. The twins immediately carried Harry out of the Great Hall, out of the castle even, and rested him near the lake. Hermione had ran up to inform Ron while the rest of the five stayed behind with Harry at the lake.

"Harry, you okay, mate?" Fred and George asked at the same time.

Harry weakly nodded and replied, "I think so… I feel weird though…"

Oliver splashed some water at Harry's face and Harry's eyes immediately widen, he looked at his surrounding and blushed, "What happened?"

Dues to Harry's little 'incident' in the morning, Cedric, the twins, Oliver, Percy, Ron, Hermione, Seamus, Dean and Neville decided to spend the rest of the day beside the lake. The twins, who found Neville to be incredibly gullible, decided to tease Neville the whole day through. Oliver and Percy were seating down, 'exchanging rather heated opinions' about the importance of Quidditch and N.E.W.T.s, as apparently, Oliver thinks that Quidditch is more important than the N.E.W.T.s. Ron, who was backed up by Seamus, was arguing with Hermione, who has Dean on her side, about his rat and her cat.

Leaving a blushing Harry alone with Cedric. They walked along the lake, talking about Quidditch occasionally.

"I'm telling you, I'm POSITIVE that BLOODY CAT ate Scabbers!" screamed Ron heatedly.

"Well, you've got to have PROVE before ACCUSING ANYONE, Ronald," replied Hermione, just as raged.

After a couple of more angry retorts, both sides yelled, "HARRY!"

Harry, who was shocked to be called so suddenly, instinctively turned his body 90 degrees around. Unfortunately, in his hurry, one of his leg trip against the other, causing him to fall backwards, towards the water.

Harry prepared himself for a splash, only, it never came. Instead, he felt two hands propped under his arms, preventing him from falling. After what seemed like forever, his back hits a chest. CEDRIC'S CHEST. If that weren't enough, Harry's head hit something too; namely, Cedric's front neck. Harry squeaked a little and timidly raised his head. He saw a pair of eyes looking down at him and a smirk to go along.

Harry heard someone whistled and quickly tried to stand properly. He was blushing furiously and was afraid to meet anyone's eyes. Thanks to Godric Gryffindor, Harry lifted up his head and saw that the others had stopped whatever it was they were doing to look at Harry and Cedric.

"We weren't doing anything!" Harry exclaimed defensively, still blushing.

"Relax mate, nobody minds your private display, really… Except maybe Ron…" Fred said.

True enough, Ron was looking rather green. He waved a feeble hand at Harry, indicating that he intends to take his leave. Seamus, Dean, Neville and Hermione followed him after smiling apologetically at Harry. The twins were laughing and winked at Cedric before they headed up to the castle, right behind Neville. Percy muttered something about meeting Penelope before dragging a giggling Oliver back to the castle with him.

When everyone else were out of sight Harry felt so out-of-place. He felt really awkward. But he turned to face Cedric anyway.

"I'm so so sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me; I mean I'm never this clumsy. Okay, maybe sometimes, but most of the time I'm pretty poised, well, not that I'm praising myself… But-" he started rambling in a desperate attempt to explain.

"Harry, it's okay, you can be as clumsy as you want to be when you're with me," Cedric cuts in, chuckling.

Harry looks up at him and their eyes locked, "But, I, I don't want to be clumsy in front of you, I want to be… I… I want you to see me as, well, not clumsy. I don't know why but I want to be poised for you. I want to be smart for you. I want to…"

Harry blushed again (not that he ever stops blushing in the first place). He's embarrassed saying all that he said. He doesn't actually know what he's saying. All he knows is that those words that came out of him was what he had been feeling for quite a while.

"… Be perfect for you…" he finished, in what he considers, lamely.

Cedric smiled and pulled Harry towards him. He descended his lips onto Harry's. The kiss stayed chaste for a while before Cedric confidently invade Harry's mouth. He could feel Harry weakening in his arms. In fact, Harry might have fallen right there and then if he weren't supported by Cedric.

To Harry's displeasure, Cedric broke off the kiss earlier than necessary.

"Harry Potter, you ARE perfect for me," He kissed Harry briefly.

"In this way," again, the kiss came and goes.

"In that way," Cedric whispered, this time pulling Harry into a deeper kiss before pulling apart.

"In every way possible."

Harry smiled and melted into Cedric's arms. His heart was soaring high and he was positive had never felt as delighted as that.

The two spent the rest of the day cuddling against each other by the lake side. They rarely talk, but this time, the silence was welcomed and comforting. When they do talk, they talk about nothing in particular. Every conversation was usually sealed with a kiss. When the sun started to set, the two reluctantly prepare to go back to the castle.

Halfway to the castle, Harry remembered something, "Cedric, how did the rest of the school know…?"

The question wasn't answered and it left Harry wondering. If only he had seen the unmistakable smirk on Cedric's face.

TBC

Yaviel's Notes: Well, I think from this chapter onwards it's safe to assume Harry and Cedric are officially a couple. I mean, that was some revelation on Harry's part. So hopefully he won't be as shy anymore. I love how Cedric is so confident though. Well, what do you think? Review please!

OooO thanks twentyonenine (thank you, I try ), Black For President (glad you enjoy this pairing , I love harry/ginny too), True Roswellian (I love it too, wish I could get my paws on one though, lol), imakeeper (thank you, much appreciated! ), twisteddagger (yes, Cedric definitely has no shame XD), NYDreamer (I love making characters flirt, lol thanks!), Titanicgirl (thank you, I'll try to update often!) for the reviews!


	4. Chapter 4

The Most Precious Snitch

Chapter 4

The news of Harry and Cedric traveled fast. By Sunday, practically everybody knows about their little 'make-out' session. The relationship was welcomed by most students from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. The Slytherins however, had a whole different opinion about the two. They would pass unpleasant remarks to Harry every time they saw him. They didn't dare do the same thing to Cedric though, as he was a prefect and he has a whole crew surrounding him wherever he goes.

Fortunately, Harry was used to being verbally assaulted by the Slytherins. Any remarks simply bounced off of him. Besides, nothing could bring down his happiness at the moment. After what happened the other day before at the lake, he had proclaimed himself the happiest man on earth.

Sunday came and goes with Harry and Cedric spending a lot of 'alone' time with each other. They talked about Quidditch, their studies, their hate for Snape, Cedric's parents, Harry's divination class –particularly about the time Professor Trelawney insisted he was going to die- and Harry's first and second year adventure. In between their conversation, Cedric would steal a brief kiss or two from Harry which eventually transform to passionate kisses.

During lunch, Harry sat at the Hufflepuff table along with Cedric's crew, Hermione and Ron (who was there to make sure Cedric didn't try anything 'funny' with Harry). Harry meant to seat beside Cedric, but he was pulled onto Cedric's lap before he could protest, not that he would. This, apparently, earned Cedric a death glare from Ron.

In short, Sunday passed way too fast for Harry's liking. Before he knew it, Monday had come, bringing the dreaded double potions with Snape and the Slytherins.

Monday started as rottenly as it could. Harry woke up with quite a start. Hermione had previously charmed Harry's and Ron's beds to shake itself when it was time for them to wake up, an attempt to get rid of their oversleeping problem. Harry usually wakes up during the first few seconds his bed started shaking.

Unfortunately, as he was having an extremely pleasant dream involving Cedric and an empty classroom, he missed that first few seconds of gentle rocking the bed was making. The next thing he knew, he was shaking really hard –well, the bed was anyway- and before he could register what was happening, his bed rudely threw him off and he landed painfully on the floor.

Harry gingerly stood up, rubbing his back. He noticed Ron was on the floor too; except he was actually STILL sleeping. Harry laughed and Neville, Dean and Seamus, who were slowly waking, stared at him through half-lidded eyes.

"Ron fell of the bed sleeping," Harry laughed.

The other three exchanged a look before Dean flatly replied, "It happens every morning Harry."

Waking Ron up took longer than the four dorm mates had expected. As it turns out, Hermione had charmed Ron's bed to wake him up 30 minutes before the others. After being continuously on-time for the past few weeks, Hermione had decided that Ron earned that 30 minutes extra sleeping time; so she set the bed to wake Ron up at the same time as Harry. Clearly, it wasn't a very good decision.

The five were beyond late. They couldn't make it for breakfast. It would be a miracle to even make it to Snape's class on time actually. Unfortunately, miracles don't happen everyday; they were 10 minutes late.

"10 points from Gryffindor for being late…"Snape started.

The five sighed in relief; that wasn't too bad.

"From EACH of you…" the professor finishes.

The five growled and discretely cursed Snape. Harry sat with Ron behind Hermione, who later scolded them for being late, muttering something about making the charm stronger. Snape scribbled something on the board and sharply turned back to face the students.

"I will be pairing all of you personally. Unfortunately there are some of you in this class," Snape turned his glare to Harry and Ron, "Who just can't seem to grasp the concept of FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS. Fortunately there are some of you who are EXCEPTIONALLY GIFTED at it." he concluded, staring fondly at his Slytherins, Draco Malfoy in particular. After which, he begrudgingly was forced to give Hermione a look of approval as Hermione was one of the best student in his class.

Snape began pairing everyone; true to his word, he paired those who are poor in Potions with those who are excellent in it. This means, most Gryffindors were paired up with Slytherins. Ron was paired up with Crabbe and he complained saying Crabbe can't be any better than himself. Hermione was paired up with Neville as Snape couldn't bear to see any of his Slytherins near the boy; he thinks Neville's 'stupidity' is infectious.

And surprise, surprise. Harry Potter was paired up with Draco Malfoy.

Draco looked extremely scandalized at first. He shot a dirty look at Snape who shrugged and squeezed Draco's shoulder. Later when Harry moved to seat with Draco, the blond boy was beyond scandalized. However, as they started working on the potion, it was Harry's turn to be scandalized.

'No Potter, that's not a dragon scale, THIS is a dragon scale,' 'No! You could've blown us up Potter, use THIS,' 'Stir it CLOCKWISE not the other way round,' 'It's 5 times! FIVE BLOODY TIMES Potter! Do you know how to count! Here, let me teach you, one, two, three, four, five!' And so goes on. It appears that every single movement Harry did was wrong. He was criticized for not knowing the difference between a strand of Unicorn tail and hair, he was scolded when stirring the cauldron, he was even screamed at when chopping the ingredients.

Through out the verbal abuse, Harry kept his mouth tightly shut, afraid that if he opens it, even a little, he might bite Draco's head off. He was doing such a good job of it too, until one particular snide remark.

"Diggory must be blind. What could he POSSIBLY see in you Potter, you can't even clean the bloody scales," Draco snapped, snatching the scales out of Harry's hand.

That, was when Harry snapped. He would allow the nasty little git to insult his stirring techniques, he would allow him to criticize his chopping techniques, he would even allow him to provoke him about his appearance, but he would never, ever, allow MALFOY to even TALK about Cedric and him. EVER.

"Well you do it then since, well, you ARE good," Harry replied, suspiciously polite.

"Fine, I will! You should probably watch and learn anyway. I'll do EVERYTHING myself!" Draco snapped somewhat rather smugly.

Harry got up to the front and told Snape, Draco didn't want him there. Snape snorted, took away 20 points from Gryffindor, told Harry he would give him a 'zero' for the assignment and instructed him to go back to his seat to watch a 'professional' at work.

Harry smiled tightly and nodded. He walked back to his seat, pocketing an ingredient that wasn't supposed to be in the potion. He sat back down and leisurely watched Draco work. Draco, working alone, was extremely busy, chopping this and adding that. While he was distracted chopping a green scale, Harry swiftly drop the extra ingredient in.

There was no reaction. But Harry knew, he didn't know how, but he just knew that it would explode sooner or later. After all, it happens to every potion Harry tried to brew.

Sure enough, when Draco dropped the scales, the mixture turned alarmingly gooey and exploded. A slime-covered Draco started screaming in outrage and accused Harry of 'doing something weird' to his potion. Harry just stared at Draco and innocently stated to Snape that he didn't do anything; after all, Draco DID say he'll do EVERYTHING himself.

Snape pursed his lips when he couldn't find prove Harry was the culprit. Strike one for Harry.

By lunch time, the incident with Draco was known to every one in the castle. The members from the other houses were teasing Draco everywhere he went. Harry almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

Lunch time was almost over by the time Harry came down. He saw Oliver and the twins; no Cedric in sight. As he and Ron approach the three, Fred and George burst into cheers and claps.

"Congrats Harry! We've heard! We just know you have it in you!" cheered Fred.

"Yea, sure it took some time, but now, you've officially become A PRANKSTER!" chirped George.

"I got to admit, it was pretty good Harry. Thanks to you, the Slytherins can't have a proper practice now with their Seeker out," Oliver chimed in.

"Yeah, those are one nasty goo. Madam Pomfrey couldn't get them out at all. She said Malfoy will just have to wait 'till the effect wears off by itself," finished Fred.

Harry blushed discretely at the attention. He slipped in into the seat with Ron seating opposite of him. Fred and George didn't stop there though; they placed an arm around his shoulder and started singing a made-up song. They were swaying Harry with the rhythm of their song and although Harry didn't really like it, he felt it was too rude to make them stop. Apparently though, their singing was infectious to the other students, who soon joined the singing-swaying motion.

In his attempt to eat his lunch while being swayed by the twins, Harry's wand fell out of his robe and rolled under the table.

He saw this as an opportunity to get away.

"Oops," Harry whispered as he slid down and crouch under the table while the twins and Oliver continued to lead the other student singing and swaying.

He felt around for his wand which was starting to bother him; he was sure it rolled under the table. He tugged at Ron's robe, who, after 'discretely' dropped his fork, slide down too.

"What is it?" Ron whispered.

"I can't find my wand! And oh, can you make them stop?" Harry whispered back.

Ron nodded and started feeling around for Harry's wand too. He felt something and immediately brought it to his face, "I found your wand, Harry!"

But as he took a better look at the object in his hand, he added, the previous excitement absent from his whispered voice, "Oh, never mind. It's my fork. No winder it's so thin and cold…"

"Oh no! Where is it?" Harry whispered a little louder, panic reaching his voice.

Ron looked around a little while more before shrugging, "you keep searching, I'll go out and get them to stop singing."

As Ron slide out, Harry saw a little wooden stick under the neighboring table. Unconsciously, he crawled out of the table, into another. Not many people seemed to notice though, as majority of the students were too busy singing along with Fred and George. Apparently, Ron hasn't been too successful.

As he crawled along under the table, his hand accidentally landed on someone's foot. He heard the owner gave a little hiss of pain. Harry didn't care though; he was nearing his beloved wand. He would just apologize to whoever it was later.

As he reached out his hands to grab his wand, he heard a murmured 'Accio Harry's wand' and the wand slide out of his grasp.

Harry didn't have time to react when he heard a familiar voice, "Harry, what are you doing?"

Harry, in his hurry to turn to the source of voice, tried to stand up from his position. Only to find pain as his head hit the table none too graciously. He winced in pain for a while, rubbing his offended head, before sliding out to meet the owner of the voice.

He blushed as he saw Cedric, half-seated, half standing, from his chair, holding his wand in one hand and Harry's in the other. Cedric's expression revealed that he was amused. One of his eyebrows was raised and a half-hearted mocking smile was placed on his lips.

Harry blushed even more furiously, "I, I dropped my wand…"

"You could've summoned it to you," came the still-amused reply.

"Well, I'm not very confident with wand-less magic…" Harry defended himself, determined not to look ignorant in front of his boyf-… In front of Cedric.

"You could've gotten Fred or George to do it for you, he's supposedly good with wand-less magic, word-less magic, all the jazz," Cedric countered.

"Well, they were busy, I didn't want to disturb them," Harry replied, a bit shakily this time.

"You could've asked Ron to summon it for you. If I'm not mistaken, HE didn't drop his wand did he? What was it he dropped? Oh yes, a fork."

"Well… He… Oops…" Harry blushed, not believing he didn't think of it sooner and not believing Cedric had seen the whole affair.

Cedric chuckled at his blushing boyfriend –yes, BOYFRIEND- and pulled the younger boy towards himself.

"I think, you and your little Gryffindor paws squashed my foot," Cedric continued, pulling him even closer, aware of the attention he was getting from the other students and not caring about it.

Harry, who had yet realized they were being stared at, bit his lower lip, "That was you? Oh, Merlin! I'm so so so sorry, Cedric. Let me look at it."

As Harry tried to squat in order to see Cedric's injured foot, Cedric grabbed his arms to stop him. He pulled Harry even closer and stole a kiss. It was a brief kiss that leaves promises for more.

"No worries, my foot will be fine. I'll take THAT as the apology… I'll wait for you in the library tonight, as promised. See you and DON'T be late for class, okay?" Cedric chuckled at the blush making its way up Harry face once again and walked off along with Percy who was waiting for him at the entrance.

Harry felt giddy thinking about that night's arrangement. Suddenly, his back felt cold and he realized he was in the Great Hall. 'Oh no' was all he could think about before a cluster of students swirled Harry up.

It was only after fifteen minutes of non-stop questionings and 'congrats', a pair of Weasley twins, a Ron and a fuming Professor McGonagall later that Harry managed to make it to Divination.

TBC

Yaviel's Notes: Ooh, public display. Cedric is SO bad. Half of this chapter doesn't have anything much to do with the couple but I think it was necessary all the same. I wanted to draw out the fact that Harry acts so differently around other people and when he's with Cedric. He could be shrewd and mean to Malfoy and yet he's so sweet and shy when he's with Cedric. Plus, he got really mad at Malfoy when he mentioned Cedric's preference. Isn't Harry cute? Review please!

Thank you so much for your reviews by the way! They strangely empower me to write more… Lol… Oh, and Atilla-the-Honey, how did you do that? You absolutely read my mind! O.O I planned on something like that once Harry has been declared Cedric's property (like what had happened) … I won't give out too much though… We'll have to wait and see what happens! The other guy would be a mystery though! Guesses anyone?


	5. Chapter 5

The Most Precious Snitch

Chapter 5

That afternoon, as Harry was escorted to Charms by Ron, –who was fuming when he saw Cedric kissed Harry in FRONT of the whole school- Hermione, Seamus, Dean and Neville, he couldn't help but to imagine 'certain' things that might happen later that night in the library, where he had promised to meet Cedric. He was nervous, without a doubt. He knew for a fact that Cedric had wanted to meet him there not just for a simple make-out session. Oh no, Cedric definitely wanted something more.

Harry debated with himself that Cedric wouldn't make him do things he wasn't ready for yet. But a small side of him was overjoyed at the thought of taking their 'relationship' to a whole new level. Harry Potter is definitely confused.

In fact, he was so deep in his thought that Hermione had to guide him into the classroom, before he walks right pass it.

The Gryffindors have Charms with the Hufflepuffs, who were staring at Harry with different emotions flickering across their faces. Some looked –strangely- pleased, some gave him looks of approval, some even started giggling as he walked pass them. Some however, were shooting him dark looks and scowling at him discretely. All this went pass Harry unseen, being as oblivious as he is.

Harry took his seat beside Ron and behind Hermione, not noticing that he was seated in front of a horrid-looking Hufflepuff. Ron, who unlike Harry, actually noticed this, eyed the boy in yellow tie suspiciously. Lesson resumed as per normal; with occasional magical slips here and there and with Ron, more often than not, shooting the suspicious-looking boy an 'I'm-watching-you' look.

Towards the end of the lesson however, something unexpected happens. As Harry busied himself trying to accomplish the day's Charms task, the boy behind Harry stood up and pointed his wand at Ron.

Ron, alarmed, yelled, "What?"

The boy's eyes narrowed before he replied venomously, "I should be asking you the same thing! You've been staring horribly at me throughout the whole period!"

Ron, with the last ounce of dignity, shot back, "Only because you kept staring at Harry the same way!"

At the mention of his name, Harry's head snapped up and took in the scene before him. He could hear Professor Flitwick squealed somewhere in the background; possibly because of Ron and the boy, or maybe because Seamus' sudden fire-outburst. Harry's hand immediately reached out and tugged at Ron's sleeves while shaking his head, signaling him to 'let-it-go'. Ron, unfortunately, either ignored Harry or was to mad to notice.

The boy's expression suddenly changed into a dark scowl.

"Hmph! Harry Potter; The boy who lived to seduce Cedric." He practically spat out.

Harry frowned before noticing that Ron had pulled out his own wand. Somewhere in the background, Harry, once again, heard another commotion as Seamus' previous outburst developed into a full magical fire that apparently refused to be extinguished.

"For your information, Harry didn't SEDUCE Cedric, more like the other way round!" Ron replied heatedly, determined to defend his best mate.

Harry, awed by the gesture, was dumbstrucked for a few seconds. The class scene became totally chaotic with Professor Flitwick squeaking in despair as Seamus' fire started to chew on the table and chairs while half the class –who weren't threatened by the fire- watched the heated argument between Ron and the boy.

"You know, you're right, the little tramp wouldn't know how to seduce anyone for his life! Innocent little Potter; never kissed a soul 'till Cedric! I would LOVE to know how a KID like him would be able to please someone like Cedric!" the boy mocked.

This, apparently, struck Harry pretty sharply. He was harshly pulled into his unconscious mind; it was amazing he didn't faint.

'Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! He's right! He's absolutely right! I've never even kissed anyone beside Cedric! How am I going to… Going to… Er, well, Merlin! I can't even SAY it in my own mind!' Harry thought desperately, his face crunched up in confusion.

Ron and the boy had, by then, exchanged another couple of insults. The boy, who was glowering dangerously by now, aimed his wand directly at Ron and started muttering a hex.

Hermione's eyebrows knitted together before instinctively pulling out her own wand and clumsily, in her hurry, attempted to hex the boy before he could do anything to Ron.

Much to everyone's –well, ALMOST everyone- horror, Harry chose that moment to snap out of his trance, not noticing the glowing wands of both the boy's and Hermione's, stalked over to where Ron was and pried his wands out of his grip.

"Ron! Violence doesn't solve-"

Unfortunately, the rest of Harry's words never left his mouth as two bright lights hit him simultaneously. The boy's curse, it seems, hits Harry first and before he could be flung of to the other side of the classroom, Hermione's curse accidentally hit him, throwing him TOWARDS the boy.

Everything went black for our dear Harry Potter.

"You are a DISGRACE to our house! If Helga Hufflepuff is still alive right now, she'd have EXPELLED you before you could even apologize!" a furious voice exclaimed.

It sounded extremely familiar to Harry, but right then, his brain just wouldn't focus long enough for him to process anything. He did feel something soft beneath him. A bed then, he thought. Everything started to rush back into his head and he groaned in pain as his brain went into overdrive mode.

"Harry!" exclaimed a voice that sounded like Hermione's.

Harry tried to open his eyes but the sudden brightness hurt him. He squinted instead. He saw a figure with something brown and bushy around where the head should be. Ah, definitely Hermione, he smiled to himself.

"Hermione," he greeted as he felt around for his glasses.

"Here you go, mate" came another voice, which he hesitantly identified as Ron's. He felt his glasses being shoved into his hands and he groggily threw them on.

His vision cleared as he brought his hands up to adjust his glasses. Strangely, his left hand felt heavier than the right one. In fact, it felt abnormally heavy. He hastily looked down on his hand and frowned at the sight.

'That can't be right there's another hand attached to my…' he thought as his gaze wandered up to the owner of the extra arm.

His frown quickly turned into an undignified squeak when he saw who the hand belonged to. The boy. From Charms. Who was fighting with Ron. His eyes widen in realization as he tried to snatch his arms away; only to find the boy's arm getting carried along with his movement. He gaped at this.

The boy raised an eyebrow and gave him a look that clearly said 'been-there-done-that'. Harry quickly turned his head around to face the other occupants of the room. Hermione's face was filled with concern while Ron was glaring at the boy heatedly. But those weren't the look Harry was looking for. Harry was looking for a tinge, a hint even, of surprise. He didn't like how they looked so resigned.

Harry then noticed five more figures: Professor Lupin, his face etched with worry, Professor Dumbledore, eyes forever twinkling, Professor McGonagall, looking extremely scandalized, Professor Flitwick, expression filled with guilt and last but certainly to least, Cedric Diggory. Looking so angry Professor Flitwick kept glancing at him worriedly every now and then.

Even at his current state that won't let him process things coherently, Harry unconsciously ran his free hand through his hair in a very self-conscious manner. He wouldn't care about his appearance in front of the whole wizarding whole but he would die if Cedric sees him looking like a mess. He blushed at the thought and inwardly scowled himself.

"Er, what's going on?" Harry voiced oh-so intelligently.

Cedric's face softens the minute he heard Harry. He felt himself rushed towards the younger boy and –ignoring everyone else in the room- gathered the boy in his arms before feverishly kissing his forehead and cheeks.

Harry's face burned red with embarrassment. He wasn't ashamed; he was shy at the public display of affection. Especially with another boy attached to his arm.

"It appears Harry, that you were accidentally hexed by both Mr. Grey and Ms. Granger," Professor Dumbledore explained, seemingly undisturbed by Cedric.

"Yes, you see Harry, Grey's hex was meant to seal Ron's lips together… And mine was to freeze his hands so that he won't be able to attack anyone… That's why… er," Hermione continued uncertainly.

"That's why your hand and Mr. Grey's are attached together," finishes the Headmaster, eyes twinkling more than ever, "Temporarily of course."

Harry's breath hitched. His eyes flickering in panic. He turned to look at Cedric, as if needing confirmation. When he nodded sadly, Harry Potter almost fainted.

"How… How long is 'temporarily'?" Harry asked, fearing the answer.

"Two days, Potter," answered Professor McGonagall, who was eyeing the Hufflepuff offender with distaste.

"Two… days…" Harry whispered to himself weakly.

At that moment, Madam Pomfrey appeared and brought the four professors off with her, muttering something that sounded like 'Seamus' and 'fire wouldn't stop'. The three professors went off, followed by Professor Lupin who only left after nodding to Harry.

"If you, so much as to touch a hair on his head, Grey, you WILL wish you've never been born," Cedric hissed, once the professors were out of sight.

Ron, who previously disliked Cedric, nodded in agreement, much to Harry's surprise.

Harry saw a look of pain flicker on the boy's face before his expression stoned again.

"Who are you?" Harry asked, bluntly.

The boy snorted before replying, "Trust you to not know your own classmate of three years Potter. But of course, we would expect nothing less would we, famous Harry Potter-"

Harry's eyes narrowed a little, "You're not related to Malfoy are you?"

The boy looked oddly surprised before looking annoyed, "Of course not! I'm a Hufflepuff!"

"Not for long," Cedric snapped as he slipped an arm around Harry's waist protectively.

Harry discretely blushed at the gesture.

"For your information, I'm Dorian Grey, you know, of the Grey Estates?" the boy, Dorian, replied.

Harry's eyes reflected utter confusion before Ron spoke up, "Pureblood family. Rich. Been in Hufflepuff for centuries."

"Oh," Harry said.

Hermione glared at Dorian, "Pureblood or not, you got Harry into this mess."

Dorian rolled his eyes, "Yes, yes, although I believe I wasn't the only one who caused all of this, I WILL take responsibility. For the coming two days we're, 'attached', I will seat in the Gryffindor table, attend all your class and help you in areas where you usually use your left hand."

Harry stared at him, "Thank you."

Cedric, Ron and Hermione stared at Harry in shock. Harry is way too courteous for his own good.

Dorian too, found the action bewildering and raised an eyebrow.

Harry blushed, for what, he doesn't know. The moment simply calls for it and Harry relents. Suddenly though, he felt a certain sensation in his lower abdomen, he chewed his lips unconsciously.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked.

"Erm, I haven't really though about this…" Harry answered awkwardly in a squeaky kind of voice.

That evening, after a quick discharge, Harry found himself trying to use the washroom with Dorian stuck to him, looking away. Cedric, Ron and Hermione were waiting outside, not entirely ready to leave Harry by himself with the boy.

"Erm, I'm done," Harry informed.

"Well, wash your hands, I'm attached to you, you know," replied Dorian.

Harry bit his lips and did as he was told, "You… Like Cedric don't you?"

Dorian whipped around in response, he narrowed his eyes, "Well, Potter, this is big. I cannot express how surprised I am that you actually notice anything with that blunt brain of yours."

Harry frowned and chewed his lips even more furiously. He doesn't like the fact that Dorian likes Cedric. But he couldn't help feeling sorry for him. The look of pure hurt he had seen in the hospital earlier was unmistakable. Unfortunately, as selfish as it may sound, Harry doesn't find the prospect of sharing Cedric very entertaining.

"Well, you can't have him," Harry snapped unconsciously. His eyes widen the minute the words flew out of his mouth and his hands instinctively moved to cover his mouth. Unfortunately, this only brought Dorian's arm along.

Dorian raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Oh? But why would I want HIM now when I can have the Boy-Who-Lived? … The innocent Boy-Who-Lived."

He brought up his attached hand and removed Harry's hand from clamping his mouth. Then, ever so slowly, he used a finger to trace Harry's lips.

"Oh!" Harry gasped, "But you like Cedric!"

Dorian laughed out loud and pulled back his arm, pulling Harry along with him. He maneuvered Harry and pinned the smaller boy against the wall, a smirk fixed on his face. Harry's eyes widen. He didn't panic; he's a Gryffindor and he took pride in the fact. He did, however, blush furiously. The distance between him and Dorian was practically null. He could literally feel his breath against his cheeks.

"I did. But seeing you in the hospital wing just now sort of… Enlightened me… Cedric's the type of person who plays around here and there… The fact that he would actually SETTLE DOWN for you just took the whole fun out of the chase," he smirked, tilting his head in a seductive way; although to our ever oblivious Harry he simply looked like he was trying to see the wall behind him.

Harry's brows creased in confusion, "What do you mean 'Cedric plays around'?"

Dorian snorted at Harry's response, "It means, _Harry_, Cedric flirts around with people… You DO know what flirting is, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" Harry snapped, feeling a tad bit insulted.

"Well, then that's just it isn't it? You're the TOTAL opposite of him. You're so pure, so innocent…" Dorian continued, tracing a finger down Harry's cheeks.

Harry shivered involuntarily, his cheeks sporting a brilliant shade of red, "You're confusing me! So do you like Cedric or not?"

Dorian raised an eyebrow before shaking his head in disbelief, "Unbelievable…"

At that moment, three figures stormed in. Harry saw, out of the corner of his eyes, Cedric and Ron holding their wands and aiming it at Dorian. A few seconds later, Harry saw Hermione ran out, realizing it was the boy's washroom.

"Let Harry go, Grey," Cedric spat out rather venomously.

Dorian rolled his eyes and pulled his attached arm up in a dramatic move, "I can't."

Cedric approached them and pulled Dorian's body off Harry's. He circled his hands around Harry's waist and narrowed his eyes at Dorian, "I'd APPRECIATE it if you kindly keep your hands AWAY from my boyfriend."

Harry blinked before blushing faintly. 'BOYFRIEND? Cedric just said I was his boyfriend! He actually said it OUT-LOUD!' He could've jumped with joy if he weren't stuck to Dorian.

Dorian looked bored before replying in a mocking voice, "Ah, yes, of course. The _boyfriend_."

Sparks of tension passed between Cedric and Dorian. Cedric had been aware of the other's feelings towards him before. They've even gone out on a couple of occasions; then again, he went out with quite a lot of people… Until he got Harry of course. He practically dropped off all his other 'dating friends' to 'pursue' Harry. Harry deserved his utmost attention.

Which was why, he didn't like the way Dorian was looking at Harry. There's an unmistakable predatory glint in his eyes. Cedric, however, Golden Boy of Hufflepuff is NOT going to loose Harry to him. He had put in way too much effort winning Harry in the first place and frankly, he was falling dangerously for the Gryffindor.

Throughout the tension, our Harry was debating in his own mind.

'Does Dorian still like Cedric? Maybe that's why he's staring at Cedric… Oh Merlin! Cedric is staring at him too! Cedric likes him too then? Oh no! But Cedric just said I'm his boyfriend! What is going on?'

Ron raised his wand to intimidate Dorian. Unfortunately, the act was totally overlooked.

Finally, Hermione peeked back in, "If you guys are done… It's nearing curfew…"

Both Cedric and Ron lowered their wands warily, Cedric's arm still protectively around Harry.

"Oh… Right… I guess we better go then Ron," Harry replied, moving for the door.

Then it struck him, "Wait, how are we going to sleep?"

The other four occupants stared at him with disbelief. The same thought went through their heads, 'he can't possibly just realize this now… Wait, wait, this IS Harry after all…'

"We're sleeping _together_, my dear," Dorian mocked.

Harry's eyes widen in shock, "Together?"

"Not just him… I'm sleeping with you too Harry… I absolutely REFUSE to leave you alone with this menace…" Cedric cut in.

"Yes, Dumbledore said you'd be sleeping at Hufflepuff's tonight…" explained Ron.

Harry stared disbelievingly at Dorian, then at Cedric. He was going to sleep with Ced- his boyfriend AND a boy he don't even know… 'Relax Harry, it's only sleeping, its very much the same as STANDING together, just that we're laying down instead of standing up… Right?'

Wrong.

Absolutely wrong. Harry had no idea how long the night is going to be.

TBC

Yaviel's Notes: Ooh! Cliffie! What's going to happen that night! And don't we all just hate Dorian… His annoying Malfoy traits… But anyway, I promise he'll be out of the way by the next chapter… And then, Harry and Cedric will… Well, I'll leave it to your imagination for now. Only a couple more chapters to go though! Please review!

Thank you so much for the reviews! They keep me going! nods, nods

How unoriginal can I get, huh? Dorian Grey, LOL!


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